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Pierre Carbon Beta knife review.

Hey all. Well here is a small written review on a current beta knife made by Pierre. Sorry, but the steel is still a secret

I started the initial bevel cutting last night, (figuring it would take some time to get it cut) so busted out the 60 grit stone and much to my surprise, (and thankfully so) it only took maybe 5 mins to fully raise a burr on both sides. It's a fine burr and easily came off with a pull through a cork. I can't really give you a lot for feed back on how it felt on that stone since the damn thing can take paint off a battleship haha. But next was a gesshin 400 and it was a lot smoother feeling than when I went to sharpen a dojo AS nakiri, (only two I had to do) The next stone was a 800 natural amakusa and it was like glass. It floated damnnear on the stone. I could feel it sharpen, but it was just so smooth, while the AS I could really feel it grabbing onto the blade edge. Second was a white amaksa 1k natural and it had the same effect. I'll skip a head to the final finishing stone as the next two stone were the same glass smooth floating feeling.

The final polishing stone was actually one I had received today when I was sharpening, so your knife was the first test drive on the stone. Which is a Wakasa, (very hard stone) but your knife easily pulled up a mud with in a minute of use. It once again floated over the stone and mud and feed back is a little hard to get when the knife glides over a stone that easy haha. But it produced a very sharp, (not as sharp as the AS, but that as you know is the trade off) Can't really tell if it took good to the polishing aspects of the stone or not, (i'll look again here shortly) But after a little deliberation, for my knife I'm thinking of going with your 01, as I do like a VERY sharp knife, (the retention is always a good thing but I prefer sharpness over retention personally speaking.)

So, on a scale of 1-10 for edge retention I would give the damn thing a 11+ haha. A home cook, (who knew how to properly care for knives) would only have to sharpen it maybe, and I say maybe 1 time a year. Pros I best with once again proper care could almost get a month out of it with just touching it up before thinking about re-beveling.

For sharpness I would rate it a solid 8+ Gets nice and sharp, but compared to blue, AS, and white it's behind those.

For ease of bringing the edge back, (IE stropping) a solid 9. Very quick to bring it back to life but I did spend a little extra time stropping to make sure.

Time to get sharp, well since this steel is tougher than a 2$ steak it gets a low 4 on that haha. If you wanted to fully buff out all of the scratches, well.... lets just say not even I have that kind of attention span haha and I'm a good sport.

So, if you have any more question for me, please don't hesitate to ask. I did do two quick videos of it in action and if you want let me know and I'll post them. Thanks again.

I thought I would follow up and offer some of Salty's comments on the knife and steel. After near a month with him, this is what he had to offer as far as feedback. I'm not sure if I mentioned, but the profile was from a sketch Salty sent me. I like it!

I want to say thank you for beating on this for a while Salty, I appreciate it.

Re: How did it do?

The blade: It could use more heft IMO. It's laserish. It could be thicker starting at the spine and eventually coming to a thin edge. With that being said I think the distal taper could be more pronounced. The knife wants to flex to close to the middle of the blade. If there's going to be flex I feel it should be slight or near the tip.

I like the profile. The height at the heel is good for most folks. A little narrower near the tip perhaps. Which would lengthen the transition also.

The Grind: You seem to have a pretty good grasp of the spine to edge grind. With a little more steel to work with it could be a little more pronounced. The weight of the blade will be a little heavier but the weight will be distributed properly and won't feel like it. The balance point will move forward a little but not a big deal. The grind? Is the hollow top worth the effort?
Yes and no. I understand that's a PITA but.........and it's not absolutely necessary. It's about weight and distribution. When people say "If feels good in the hand" they don't realize it but they're probably talking about weight distribution.

The steel: I gave it my usual progression and time. It's hard stuff. It got plenty sharp but not as sharp as some. If I gave it more time and effort it may get sharper but for most folks that was plenty sharp. It almost feels glassy on the stones and it's pretty obvious it's not losing much steel.

Once sharp, it will hold that fresh edge a little longer than most but what I found cool about it was it touched up very nice. Once plateaued the remaining edge was more than sufficient and held up very well.
I did notice that I got some micro chips in the transition area leading to the tip. As mentioned before this area takes a pounding. The chips make have resulted from debris on the board or pivoting while rock chopping. Not unlike the Hattori KDs. I was able to sharpen them out without much trouble. That's how small they were considering how hard the steel is.

Profile: I like it. Once you add steel to the blade you might be able to support a slightly narrower tip. Slightly.

Alright this one has been a long time coming but I've been on a roll lately with this nexus tablet so here goes.

First, looks. This knife is a really great looker for several reasons. One, the profile has some great lines to it. Sleek and fast looking if that makes any sense. Next, the steel gets a nice dark grey to black looking patina on top of the extremely high level of finish. Finally the interesting mix of handle materials. Not sure what the wood is but the choice of carbon fiber ferrule, blue mammoth and silver spacers gives it a mix of high tech and ancient materials that work really well together. I don't quite remember if the spine and choil were smoothed over but I think they were. Overall an extremely high level of fit and finish.

Next, sharpening. My first try I was in a bit of a rush and I only touched up on the rika 5k. I didn't seem to move much steel or get the edge I wanted to so it left me feeling a little defeated. I used it all day and wasn't thrilled by its cutting performance but I knew it was from the rushed sharpening job. Later that night after work I was determined to beat this knife so I went back at it. Started from the bester 1200 this time and after a few minutes I started experiencing the same issues as other users. Glassy feeling, gliding over the stone. I attribute this to the hardness of the steel and the extremely fine grain structure clogging up the stones. So I scrubbed the stone with the aroma and went back to work. By now I think the metal had been heated up through friction and started moving nicely. From that point forward it was smooth sailing with my usual progression and I enjoyed the experience. Easy peasy. So that's the secret. Get the steel moving and keep the stones clean. Once finished it had a screaming edge on it that just held forever. Stropping was all I needed the rest of the week.

Which brings us to cutting. With its new edge I could focus on profile and geometry. It's a pretty thin knife with a distal taper. There is some flex but not enough to scare me away from cutting carrots. Food release was pretty good but not excellent. Chopping, slicing, pushing, rocking and walking all worked fine and I couldn't ask for more there. It was a real joy to use.

This is a serious knife for a serious pro or high level enthusiast. Whoever gets this bad boy has a really nice piece of steel. Just don't be afraid of sharpening it. This beast can be tamed to a finely tuned cutting machine!